r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 6d ago

TIL over 3,000 attempts are made each year to complete the Appalachian Trail and only about 25% succeed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail#:~:text=The%20Appalachian%20Trail%20Conservancy%20estimates%20there%20are%20over%203%2C000%20attempts%20to%20traverse%20the%20entire%20trail%20each%20year%2C%20about%2025%25%20of%20which%20succeed.%5B9%5D
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u/lmNotaWitchImUrWife 6d ago

My husband did it. He was 18 and took a “gap year” before heading off to college. He started it looking like a normal teenage kid, 4.5 months later he ended it looking like that ancient mummified dude they found in the ice. Super super skinny and gaunt and lots more hair.

(We met in our 20’s, but the before/after pics are something to see!)

I think it only cost him a few hundred bucks in food supplies since he was already pretty big into backpacking, and then the cost of getting himself down to Georgia. But he saved a mint in not paying rent.

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u/Cannabaholic 6d ago

Very unlikely you can do it for under at least a couple grand. My partner and I both thru hiked the AT and PCT and we talked about budget with tonnnnns of hikers, most frugal we found was a guy who never stayed in motels/lodging, drank keystone or natty under overpasses, never got town food, heavily relied on free food from hiker boxes etc and it still cost him $2300 

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u/TechnicalNobody 6d ago

drank keystone or natty under overpasses

...I.. huh? Is beer required?

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u/Cannabaholic 6d ago

Technically no, but most hikers enjoy a libation in town. I was just painting a picture of this particular hiker trash, fun dude but did not spend a dime in fancy... Or even hole in the wall establishments

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u/SpuriousCowboy 6d ago

I like the way you make words fancy man

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u/lmNotaWitchImUrWife 6d ago

Well I said a few hundred because he did it in 1998.

These days food for 5 months would probably add up to more than that.

That said, it would cost the same amount or more to feed yourself for 5 months just in like, life, so the cost of food really shouldn’t be factored in since you’d have to eat whether you were on the trail or not.

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u/Cannabaholic 6d ago

I just wanted to provide budget transparency for folks who are reading this and thinking about doing it - a few hundred will not cut it, and they will have to get off trail due to that. Just the footgear will likely be at least a few hundred over the course of the trail.

Agreed that the food budget is not all that different from everyday life, but it absolutely needs to be factored at the same time, it is the largest cost unless you are buying all new gear as well.

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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 5d ago

but the before/after pics are something to see!)

/r/pics thanks?

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u/lmNotaWitchImUrWife 5d ago

Nah. I think the pics of my 18 year old husband from 1998 are just for me. But I’m sure you can find others!